Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 3:16 ¶ "For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. |
Subject: THE CROSS |
Bible Note: PART 1--Kind greetings, Tim: --Please forgive me for jumping into this discussion at this time! Please see my comments in between the verses you provided. “1) Concerning the extent of the atonement:” ”a) 2 Cor. 5:19 - "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men?s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. "” -- Tim, this verse is stating that God is reconciling the world to Himself, simply put. God is bringing reconciliation to the world and this verse is speaking to us as believers to go out and preach reconciliation. I guess I am not sure how this verse proves that Christ dies for every single individual person. If we take this verse to say He did die for each individual person, then God did not hold the sins of Stalin and Hitler against them, or any other human who dies denying God, so did they get off scot-free when they died? If God did hold their sins against them (which, unless they repented and believed Christ, He did), then we have a situation where God changed His mind, which flies in the face of Scripture passages that say otherwise(Mal. 3:6; Num. 23:19; Hos. 11:9). ”b) John 3:16-17 - "??For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."” --Again, I would not try and argue anything other than what this verse means. God does love the world, the world of all people, not just the Jews. We have to remember who Jesus was talking to here, Nicodemus, a Pharisee. He was quizzing Jesus about His works and the Kingdom. In those days salvation was only for the Jews and no one else. Well, Jesus is blowing that box apart and telling Nicodemus that salvation has come to all the world, to all peoples! Praise God! ”c) John 12:32 - "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.?” --First off, if every single individual is drawn, then Christ must raise them on the last day, referring to salvation(John 6:44). We know this is not true because Christ teaches that there is a Hell in which unbelievers will spend eternity. Secondly, the term used “will” is very strong, meaning that when Christ says He “will” do something, it does happen, no questions asked, He is God after all! So, in light of this, to say that Christ does draw every single individual person, that presents problems. Thirdly, we know that daily there are individuals who die in their sins never hearing the Gospel of Christ. Does Christ draw those individual people? ”d) John 6:33 and 51 - "For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world .? ..."I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.?” --God does give life, in a broad sense to the world, I would not argue with that. But, even in this verse it says that one must eat of the Bread, His flesh, in order to have the life, and obviously not every single individual person has partaken of the flesh of Christ, right? Plus, this verse says that if you eat of His flesh, you have eternal life right now! ”e) Titus 2:11 - "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men."” --Again, God is showing grace to man through His grace in the Gospel of Christ. In a sense, it has appeared to all men through the preaching of the Word to all tribes, tongues and nations. This is the Great Commission! ”f) 1 John 4:14 - "And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world."” --Agreed, Christ is the Savior of the world, no argument here! Whether people like it or not, Christ is the only true Messiah in this fallen world, the only One than can and will save His people from their sins and the wrath to come(1 Thess. 1:10; Rom. 2:5). Continued in next post… |